Specialty Gardening: drainage layer / PWT question, 0 by monkapotamus

monkapotamus wrote:
Hi. I'm working on a tiered bed I'm concerned about it draining properly... I'm asking in this forum thinking it is basically a big container.
The soil beneath the beds is very hard -almost impermeable- red clay. Actually, I'm digging them out now with a pick-axe. What was IN the beds from the previous owners was also mostly just clay, but less solid, with about 2" of topsoil. I know the clay bottom will just hold water like a pot without a hole. Lots of places advise a gravel drainage layer for raised beds...but I know in containers, people now mostly advise against it. I've been reading the threads about the perched water table, etc.

So, would it be best to have the good soil right in contact with the clay, and try to drain the beds out the side (at a point above the clay layer?) I'm thinking of sloping the bottom to one side.
I'm feeling stuck and unsure about what I'm doing; any advice would be great.
Thanks!!